104 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



McFarlane's Corn-Planter. 



THE accompanying engraving is a perspective view of an improved corn-planter, the inven- 

 tion of Mr. J. G. McFarlane, of Newville, Cumberland county, Pa. The object of the invention 

 is to make the furrow deposit the seed with manure or plaster, if desired, and cover the 

 seed with earth all at one and the same operation. 



The nature of the invention consists in the employment of a self-acting scraper, working 

 over the feeding apertures for regulating the proper number of grains to be fed into the 

 hill ; it also consists in the use of a hanging scraper, by which the groove of the wheel is 

 always kept clear, so as to be in a condition for facilitating the operation of the wheel. A is 

 the hopper ; it has a division for corn and another for plaster or guano. B is the slide ; it is 

 operated by a spiral spring C and a crank D. It has a small, round aperture 1, which 

 receives and discharges the grains of corn from the hopper ; at the other end is an oblong 

 slot 2, through which the guano or plaster passes, and is discharged through the tunnel E 

 along with the grain. F are the handles ; G the operating wheel, which is behind the de- 

 positing tube H. The wheel has a grooved periphery and flanges at each side ; these cover 

 the seed after it is deposited. 1 1 are projecting pins on the wheel for striking on the drop- 

 shoulder of the crank, as the wheel revolves, to operate the slide at certain intervals, making 

 the hills. Two or more of such pins may be used, so as to increase or diminish the number 

 of hills in a row. The drill-tube H is arranged so that a wooden pin can break to relieve 

 it from breaking when it meets with a sudden resistance from some obstruction. J is the 

 scraper ; it acts by its own weight, and rests in the groove of the wheel, to keep it free from 

 dirt. K is a self-acting scraper, which rests by its own weight on the slide B, for the pur- 

 pose of preventing more than the proper number of grains from passing over the aperture 1 

 at once. L is the beam. 



This corn-planter, according to recent improvements, is constructed entirely of iron, and 

 is simple and effective in its arrangements. At the Agricultural State Fair of Pennsylvania, 

 1855, the machine received the first premium, and may, without doubt, be classed among the 

 very best of recent agricultural improvements. 



Improved Hay-Knife. 



IN an improved hay-knife, patented May, 1855, by Seth Whalen, of West Milton, Saratoga 

 county, New York, the knife has a cross-head handle, and the blade is formed with a bend 

 near the handle, so that it stands out from it at a suitable distance without a shank, the blade 

 being simply screwed to the centre of the handle. This method of constructing hay-knives 

 divides the applied power between the two handles, with the knife in the centre, economizes 



